big blowout at shipper

i'd like to know how you guys handle those shippers. that you get there bright and early to pick up for. and by the time you leave. it's an hour past close time. and you get scaled (luckily the 3 scale houses you passed are closed) at the only cat scale for 200 nmiles. only to find out your heavy.

if i'm stuck there all day. i'm going to be heavy. happens EVERY flipping time.

shippers get pissed when you on the property in the morning to get lightened up.

i actually did a heavy haul in oregon. and it was downright NASTY. even though i showed them the nice citation from the scale house.
the axles were legal. the gross was legal. the birdge was legal. except for oregon. they don't like as high a bridge weight.

 

Looks like I'll be the first to throw some unpopular opinion in on this thread.

First and foremost, you have just learned that any load coming out of a beverage plant will be heavy. I don't care what kind of story your broker told you, expect to be maxed out if the cargo is packaged liquids. You'll give yourself a heart attack if you expect anything less.

Besides, other than a little more care, an 80k truck will handle and burn fuel just about the same as one weighing 74-75k.

Also, with your own truck and trailer, why don't you have an empty scale ticket? Seriously. It's $10 and you can use it until you change your equipment.

And WTH are you running that's so heavy? Most dry van guys I hear from can put on 45k without a sweat. Usually up to 47k with a light enough tractor.

Sounds like you need to learn your equipment weights and how to slide axles and fifth wheel to balance a load. Or just take a pass on any beverage loads.

 

I know what product ships heavy and expect the worst when I go there. I'll also advise the broker clearly what I can scale and what it will cost them if I have to return to have product taken off. When it happens you just have to decide the risk/reward of returning. The broker and the shipper all play into that decision as well. If the circumstances are right, I'll run up to about 700 lb heavy. Anything more and I'll go back and deal with it.

My equipment is heavy for what it is. Tractor has an apu and the trailer is an old, heavy reefer. It scales empty with just under 1/2 fuel at 36,700 from the empty scale ticket I keep on hand. I tell them from the get-go I can put 43,300 on board, period. They have every chance to refuse the truck before I even head toward a shipper.

That said, three loads in the last couple months come to mind:

A load of frozen cauliflower coming out of the RGV. Went to the local scale and was 2,100 over what the bills stated as gross wt w/packaging 42,500. I was 1,900 overweight. I returned and they took 50 40lb cases off with no delay or BS. They knew it was heavier than stated. Especially after the re-weigh showed a reduction of 2,200 lbs. Do the math. I let that one slide since the broker was a regular and the shipper was quick about the return visit and didn't delay me very much.

A load of beer. I told the broker my limits. When I checked in, the shipper got an attitude when I repeated my limits but adjusted the order anyway. I suggested he take it up with the broker as I had given him the same advice he just heard direct from me. Anyway, they did the last load before closing thing you described with this one. When they handed me the bills, the gw printed was 43,900. And of course everyone had vamoosed. The douchebag shipping mgr had done that 600 extra deliberately.

I was running from central TX to the Hammond, LA area and knew I'd pass no scales until entering LA, ~250 mi away. I decided to scale it at the truck stop, and if accurate I'd run it on low fuel. If heavier, I'd be returning and sort it the next morning. Turns out the bills were accurate. I balanced with the trailer at the limit and the o/w mostly on the drives and a little on the steer. By the time I hit the first EB scale in LA fuel burn had me close enough to legal they didn't even weigh me. I had enough fuel to get past the Breaux Bridge scale and stopped at the Peelot at the next exit for enough fuel in the truck and a splash in the reefer to get over the third LA scale right before I-55 plus a shower credit LOL. Definitely a little more work at the scale and fuel planning to get this one done without further hassle. I told the broker I'd be wary of that shipper and probably refuse future load offers from there. Not because of the overweight load. Mainly due to their obvious dishonesty.

Last was just this week. Was told my load would be 43,300. Mmmmkay. Warned the broker that better be right or no-go. Eyeballed the balance before leaving the shipper and it felt right on the 18 mi trip to the nearest scale. Was 80 over on steer, 50 over on drives, and 100 over on trailer. Close enough. I did get the hairy eyeball from the ladies at the I-16 eb scale in GA on the axle weigh, but they let me go. I got red lighted into every open scale going to NC and no problems. Fuel planned this one perfect and got the low fuel light as I was exiting 10 mi past the last NC scale before my delivery.

 

I call this Inaccurate Dispatch.It happens to me alot with these dummies(AGENTS) we got here at L/S..

Once i see something is WRONG,all bets and deals are OFF...I call the agent and i am back on the nagociating table.I then re-bid according to what the load is in REALITY..If i do not like what i see OR THE PRICES I SEE i leave the load behind and move forward...SIMPLE..

 

Aree, that's a tough one to over come. You'll hear a lot of Ops on here saying its the other way around, that they get good rates coming in to CA but crap leaving. Brokers can tell where you're based by looking you up. They know there is a huge population of trucks in CA that look for good rates to run east (or out of CA) and then will take crap rates just to hurry back to the good rates they get leaving here. They've been doing it for years. You can break the chain though and once you establish yourself with them as a non-cheap rate hauler, you'll see improvement. They will call the cheap guys first but when they are hurting, they will call you.

If you want to maximize the rate, you have to zig zag back, NC to Ohio, Ohio to OK, OK to Denver, Denver to Seattle, Seattle to CA or something along those lines. Or as previously mentioned, multiple partials. Either way, it's a PITA and time consuming and when you get lazy and take the cheap freight to hurry up to get home, you'll perpetuate the problem.

The idea of having enough in the bank to cover the crap rate loads just means you are using your savings to pay someone to haul their freight. Not a good business practice nor a long term one.

Best of luck to you.

 

Don't go to Co or CA and you'll make better $$!

 

Or Florida,MT,Dakotas,Maine and most of Northeast....To name a few.

 

contact the l/s agent you or your friend booked the load through and explain the situation,also a good idea to call customer service and explain,that way if the customer complains you have your butt covered.
as long as your in the right they'll stand behind you and make sure you don't have a service failure on your record.

 

Yep stay away from Maine and the Northeast cause I'm not making any money at all running up here for the past 6 years. Just barely able to pay off my truck, trailer, personal debt, and a nice chunk on my family's dream house we are building.